The ruling, which was followed by an appeal by the man who was a power-broker as Archbishop of Washington, D.C., was decided 'final' by Pope Francis.

According to a report from Euronews: The ruling, made by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith three days ago, was declared ahead of next week's meeting at the Vatican among the heads of national Catholic Churches to discuss the global child abuse crisis.

Defrocking determines McCarrick can no longer declare himself a priest or celebrate the sacraments, although he would be permitted to administer to a person on the brink of death in an emergency.

The charges against McCarrick, whose fall from grace astonished the U.S. Church, date back to decades ago when he was still rising to the top of the hierarchy there.

McCarrick, who has been living in solitude in a remote friary in Kansas, has acknowledged publicly to only one of the allegations, saying he has "absolutely no recollection" of an asserted case of sexual abuse of a 16-year-old boy more than 50 years ago.

Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti stated the ruling determined that "different treatment for bishops who have committed or covered up abuse represents a form of clericalism that is no longer acceptable."

McCarrick was also found guilty of the separate crime of solicitation, which refers to when a priest uses the pretext of the sacrament of confession to committing an immoral act with a penitent.

One of the men who had claimed that McCarrick abused him when he was a boy said McCarrick; then a priest touched his genitals during confession.

Separately, several priests and ex-priests had come forward alleging McCarrick used his authority to coerce them to sleep with him when they were adult seminarians studying for the priesthood.

McCarrick has not commented publicly on the allegations of wrongdoing with adults, which was an open secret in the U.S. Church.

Former Nuncio from the Vatican to Washington, D.C, published an 11-page letter, accusing Pope Francis of lifting sanctions on the sexually abusive Cardinal Theodore McCarrick in 2013 that were previously enforced under Pope Benedict XVI.

According to a source close to Benedict, Church officials were fully aware of McCarrick's sexual abuse and placed private sanctions on him.

However, the disgraced Cardinal McCarrick regularly "disobeyed" the sanctions, and continued to sexually assault children, all with the full knowledge of Vatican officials - who chose to ignore his "disobedience" - with the cycle of pedophilia continuing "for years."